


The Book of You and I

by OSAF



Category: The Prom (2020), The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: F/F, Post-Canon, dumbass lesbians being dumbass lesbians in love, its what they DESERVE, photo albums
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:01:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29278122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OSAF/pseuds/OSAF
Summary: Alyssa welcomed herself onto the couch and smiled up at Emma, before tilting her head. “Have those photos always been there?” She asked, gesturing to a cupboard full of photos and stacks of albums. “I thought it was just the bowl of hard candies in there.”Emma faced the cupboard she’d been oh so desperately avoiding. They weren’t all old photos, some of them were only about two or three years prior. Some of them dated back to kindergarten.  Emma didn’t want to see any of them. Alyssa clearly did.
Relationships: Alyssa Greene & Emma Nolan, Alyssa Greene/Emma Nolan
Comments: 2
Kudos: 38





	The Book of You and I

Emma opened the door, a dopey grin plastered on her face. She stood face to face with Alyssa, who gave her a small and awkward wave. Quickly, Emma stepped aside and let Alyssa into the doorway. “Is your mom going to like… sit in my driveway the entire time?”

Alyssa glanced at her mother’s SUV sitting on Betsy Nolan’s driveway and held her head down. “She’ll leave. Eventually.” Alyssa walked in and slipped her converse off of her feet. 

Emma stared at Alyssa, failing to comprehend how Emma got so lucky to date her. Their relationship had been a struggle with all the hiding. But they survived. Barely, it seemed. But they survived. 

“Emma, close the door!” Her gran called from the kitchen. 

Emma turned to face the door and slam it shut, locking it behind her. The urge to tell Alyssa where to go poked at Emma, but she knew her way around. Alyssa had been to her house plenty of times before. The only difference now? They were out. Both of them. No more lying about where they snuck off during lunch or calling her girlfriend an exchange student.

Alyssa welcomed herself onto the couch and smiled up at Emma, before tilting her head. “Have those photos always been there?” She asked, gesturing to a cupboard full of photos and stacks of albums. “I thought it was just the bowl of hard candies in there.”

Emma faced the cupboard she’d been oh so desperately avoiding. They weren’t all old photos, some of them were only about two or three years prior. Some of them dated back to kindergarten. Emma didn’t want to see any of them. Alyssa clearly did.

She eagerly bounced up off the couch, not breaking eye contact with the photos. She opened the doors of the cupboard and pulled a frame out of its resting place. “I wanna see.”

Emma almost forgot how different Alyssa could be when not at school. She brought chaotic energy that only Emma got to see. And Betsy but that came from her gran just constantly being in the kitchen while Emma and Alyssa were at the house. 

The photo she pulled out, Emma hardly remembered. She had to be about three years old, and her parents had decided to take her to Disney World. They’d flown out to Orlando and stayed there for about a week for her birthday. Too young to remember many details, but the one that stayed clear in her mind had been meeting all the different characters. 

“What’s this one?” Alyssa held up the photo of Emma with an oversized pair of Mickey Mouse ears on her head. Realistically speaking, she’d probably pulled them from her dad’s head when sitting on his shoulders.

“Disney. 2004. I had just turned three.”

“Your parents took you to Disney for your third birthday? I got stuck on a road trip to see my cousins.”

Emma paused. “I thought your mom didn’t have any siblings.”

Alyssa pulled her face away from the photo and met Emma’s gaze, confused. “Emma, I have a father, you do know that, right?”

Of course, Emma knew her girlfriend had a father, but they never talked about him because why would they? Emma half assumed Alyssa had never even met him. She didn’t even know if Alyssa knew his name. “Well, yeah, but I kinda thought he left when you were super little.”

“Emma, I was eleven.”

Emma’s mouth crept into an awkward smile, not knowing how to continue the conversation. “Anyways-”

“Is that Kaylee?” Alyssa said, excitedly grabbing another photo.

Now that photo Emma could describe perfectly. “Yup. It was my seventh birthday party. We went to the trampoline park, and she gave me a concussion when she kicked me in the face.” While Kaylee didn’t intend to kick Emma in the face, that was the end result. 

Alyssa placed the frame back in the cabinet. “I didn’t realize you two used to be close. Like, actually close.” 

Emma hated talking about her friendship with Kaylee. She had no issue with Kaylee, and as far as Emma knew, Kaylee had no problem with her, but every time a conversation about her and Kaylee came up, she wanted to tear her eyes out of their sockets. “I don’t think you want to see all of these pictures. They’re old and pretty stupid at times.”

“But I’ve never seen these before. I don’t know anything about your childhood. You have to tell me.” As much as Emma didn’t want to see the photos, she stayed and watched Alyssa stare into the brown cabinet holding memories of before Emma and Alyssa meeting. “Is this you as a baby?” 

“Baby” didn’t cut it for that photo. Emma had to be a few weeks old at least. She still looked red and wrinkly. Her grandmother held her in her arms, Emma swaddled in an orange, pink, and white blanket. Oh, the irony. If her parents had known they’d essentially wrapped their daughter in a lesbian flag, they would’ve thrown a fit.

“Look at this tiny, precious child,” Alyssa said, fawning over the photo obsessively. “Well, you’re still a tiny and precious child.”

Emma pouted. “I’m older than you.” While the age difference was only a few months, being referred to as a “tiny and precious child” wasn’t ideal. 

“Hah! Tiny and precious!” Greg laughed from down the hall. He’d refused to leave the house wherever Alyssa would come over just because he liked being annoying. 

Alyssa beamed at her, facing the photo directly at Emma. “You look lovely.”

“I look like somebody dunked me in a can of Campbell’s Tomato Soup.” Emma spared herself no insult. She wasn’t lying. Her face was all bright, and it looked like somebody left her in water and forgot about her with all of the wrinkles. “And this seems pretty unfair because I haven’t seen any of your baby photos.”

“You’ve never been to my house.”

“Yeah, but did your mother never randomly send photos of you from six years ago unprompted in a family group chat or something.”

Alyssa shook her head, furrowing her brows. “No. Is that something she should be doing? Is that a thing?”

Emma didn’t know how to explain the embarrassment of having her father and mother send photos of her to all her aunts, uncles, and cousins. The videos of her, Greg, and her other cousin doing some weirdly choreographed dance were engraved in her mind, but certainly not by choice.

“Be grateful you don’t have to suffer through that.”

Alyssa tugged at her red flannel that buttoned up to about her neck, looking happier than Emma understood. They were just going through old photos. Her gran waited to put them up until Emma could say with one hundred percent certainty she could bear to look at them. Photos with her parents, holding her and hugging her, being the typical nuclear family. 

God, she hated these photos.

“You look upset,” Alyssa said, taking Emma’s hand. “Did I upset you? If I did, I didn’t mean to, I was just curious,” she rambled.

“No, no, no, it’s fine. You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just- how do I explain it- weird. These photos are like a series of memories that I’d kind of forgotten. Like, a book you haven’t read in forever.” Emma squeezed Alyssa’s hands, trying to reassure her. “I know these photos exist but looking back at them they all feel unfamiliar in a way.” 

Emma glanced into the kitchen, wondering if her gran was still in the kitchen. No sign of her, so maybe Emma wouldn’t deal with a long and drawn-out conversation about how she felt about her parents. 

“We should start our own book then. Our own series of memories.”

“Can I add the photo of you with peanut brittle all over your face?”

“It was one time!”

“I mean I would hope you didn’t do it a second time.”

Alyssa lightly shoved Emma with a small smirk on her face. “I don’t like you, you know that Nolan.”

Emma laughed and dragged Alyssa away from the photos. “Let’s do it. The book of me and you.”

Alyssa winced and pulled her hand away. “You and I. The book of you and I.”

“That’s what I said.”

“I- you know what? It doesn’t matter. Let’s watch a movie.” 

Emma didn’t go out of her way to be grammatically incorrect, but she did get a small kick out of seeing her girlfriend try to correct her. “Hey, Alyssa.”

“Yeah.”

Emma paused. Not because she was hesitating but just to look at Alyssa. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Emma Nolan, I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> I want you guys to know that Betsy was 100% eavesdropping and they 100% had a long drawn out conversation about how Emma felt about her parents.


End file.
